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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Joan E Greve

Democratic debate: Buttigieg under fire over experience and fundraising – as it happened

The debate is co-hosted by PBS NewsHour & Politico at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
The debate is co-hosted by PBS NewsHour and Politico at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Debate summary

That’s it from me tonight. Here are some of the biggest moments from the sixth Democratic presidential debate:

  • Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg clashed over fundraising practices, as Warren accused Buttigieg of being in the pocket of big-dollar donors. “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States,” Warren said, referring to Buttigieg’s recent fundraiser at a wine cellar in Napa valley.
  • Amy Klobuchar also criticized Buttigieg for his relative lack of experience, so the Indiana mayor who has surged to the top of the polls in Iowa took incoming fire from multiple sides.
  • The debate on the whole was more contentious than the other recent match-ups, with candidates likely feeling pressure to capture viewers’ attention less than two months before voters start heading to the polls.
  • The candidates defended the House’s decision yesterday to impeach Trump, arguing the president’s “corrupt” actions had made the vote necessary.
  • A gender divide emerged on the final debate question, when candidates were asked whether they wanted to seek forgiveness for something or offer a gift. All the male candidates chose to offer a gift, while the two women on stage – Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar – sought forgiveness for getting “worked up” talking about important issues.
  • Sarah Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary, sent a tweet mocking Joe Biden for his history of stuttering. The former vice president said during the debate that children have approached him while on the campaign trail asking for help with speaking, imitating his own past stutter. Sanders later apologized and deleted the tweet.

Thanks for following the Guardian’s live coverage, and tune in next month when the blog covers the seventh debate in Des Moines, Iowa.

Updated

Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, interestingly defended Pete Buttigieg for hosting a fundraiser at a wine cellar in Napa Valley.

Newsom, who endorsed Kamala Harris’ White House bid before she dropped out of the race, grew a multimillion business from a wine shop he started in San Francisco.

The homepages of three major US newspapers are currently highlighting the contentious nature of tonight’s debate, specifically noting candidates’ attacks on Pete Buttigieg.

Here are the current homepage headlines:

  • New York Times: “Democratic Candidates Go on the Attack, and Buttigieg Is the Target.”
  • Wall Street Journal: “Pete Buttigieg, Strong in Iowa, Comes Under Attack From Democratic Rivals.”
  • Washington Post: “Candidates spar on donors, health care, political experience.”

Joe Biden is receiving some praise for his debate performance. From a conservative blogger:

But commentators were quick to note Biden had the advantage of lowered expectations, considering his less-than-stellar performances at past debates.

“It wasn’t flawless, but he kept things on the rails, had flashes of good humor, and was deft with tough moments he could see approaching, including about his age,” Aaron Blakes writes for the Washington Post.

Amy Klobuchar continued her attacks on Pete Buttigieg’s experience level after leaving the debate stage, arguing a woman with his resume would not be in the same favorable polling position that he is.

Updated

The final count is in, and Bernie Sanders spoke more than any other candidate on the debate stage, followed closely by Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren.

But despite the smaller debate stage, there were still large differences in candidates’ speaking times. For example, Sanders spoke nearly twice as much as Andrew Yang.

Buttigieg reacts to gender divide on final debate question

Pete Buttigieg was asked about the gender divide on the final debate question, when candidates were asked whether they wanted to ask for forgiveness for something or offer a gift.

All of the male candidates chose to offer a gift, while the two women on stage – Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar – asked for forgiveness for getting “worked up” talking about important issues.

“No woman should ever have to apologize for being fired up,” Buttigieg said. The Indiana mayor noted male candidates would likely be questioned if they did not get “worked up” talking about the issues, calling the double standard “one of the many effects of sexism in our politics”.

Updated

Sarah Sanders deletes stuttering tweet

Sarah Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary, has deleted her tweet mocking Joe Biden for stuttering, claiming she did not know of his history with the condition.

After Sarah Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary, mocked Joe Biden for his history of stuttering, this video from August started recirculating on Twitter.

Biden’s history of stuttering came up during the debate because he was talking about the children who approach him while on the campaign trail and ask for his help because they also have the condition.

In the Los Angeles spin room, surrogates for Bernie Sanders are wearing shirts that read PetesWineCave.com.

The website, which refers to Pete Buttigieg’s recent fundraiser at a wine cellar in Napa Valley, redirects to a donations page for Sanders’ campaign.

Buttigieg sparred with Elizabeth Warren tonight over his fundraising practices. “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States,” Warren said.

Gender divide emerges with final debate question

Many debate viewers noted the gender divide that emerged as candidates answered the final debate question.

PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff asked the candidates whether they wanted to ask their opponents for forgiveness for anything or offer them a gift.

Both of the women on stage – Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar – asked for forgiveness for getting too “worked up” about important issues, while the men offered gifts ranging from the books they’ve written to their entire candidacies.

This gender split did not go unnoticed by Twitter commentators, many of whom argued it reflected the double standards that women are held to in the race.

Updated

Biden to Sarah Sanders: 'It's called empathy. Look it up'

Joe Biden has reacted to Sarah Sanders mocking his history of stuttering, suggesting Trump’s former press secretary should look up the definition of empathy.

Updated

Sarah Sanders, Trump’s former press secretary, dubiously argued her tweet about Joe Biden, which begins “I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I hhhave,” was not meant to make fun of his stuttering.

In light of Sarah Sanders’ cruel tweet about Joe Biden’s history with stuttering, it’s worth revisiting this recent Atlantic story on the topic.

The magazine’s John Hendrickson, who also struggled with stuttering, writes:

Maybe you’ve heard Biden talk about his boyhood stutter. A non-stutterer might not notice when he appears to get caught on words as an adult, because he usually maneuvers out of those moments quickly and expertly. But on other occasions, like that night in Detroit, Biden’s lingering stutter is hard to miss. He stutters—­if slightly—on several sounds as we sit across from each other in his office. Before addressing the debate specifically, I mention what I’ve just heard. ‘I want to ask you, as, you know, a … stutterer to, uh, to a … stutterer. When you were … talking a couple minutes ago, it, it seemed to … my ear, my eye … did you have … trouble on s? Or on … m?’

Biden looks down. He pivots to the distant past, telling me that the letter s was hard when he was a kid. ‘But, you know, I haven’t stuttered in so long that it’s hhhhard for me to remember the specific—’ He pauses. ‘What I do remember is the feeling.’

Sixth Democratic debate concludes

The sixth Democratic debate has concluded, but the Guardian team will have more analysis coming up.

Former Trump adviser mocks Biden for childhood stutter

Candidates are still delivering their closing statements, but much of the conversation on Twitter has turned to this shocking tweet from Trump’s former press secretary, Sarah Sanders.

The tweet is a reference to Joe Biden’s answer moments ago about meeting children who struggle with stuttering, which he also suffered from when he was young.

Biden demonstrated what a stutter sounds like to emphasize his point, prompting this cruel joke from Trump’s former adviser.

Biden’s rapid response director quickly reacted to Sanders’ tweet:

Updated

Candidates deliver closing statements

The debate has moved on to closing statements, and each candidate will get 60 seconds to deliver final remarks.

Tom Steyer pledged to “break the corporate stranglehold” and tackle climate change as president.

Andrew Yang opened his closing statement with a joke about his outsider status. “I know what you’re thinking, America: How am I still on this stage with them?”

The debate has hit its last commercial break, and candidates will soon make their one-minute closing statements.

The other candidates seem to be taking the “forgiveness or gift” question to make a larger pitch for their candidacies.

Pete Buttigieg talked about the need to defeat Trump, and Elizabeth Warren asked forgiveness for getting “worked up” about the important issues she hears about from voters.

Joe Biden echoed Warren’s point about how many people he has met during his campaign who need help.

Interestingly, the former vice president talked about children he’s met who have told them about their issues with stuttering, which he also struggled with as a child. Biden actually made a point to demonstrate a stutter on stage, which is noteworthy considering he makes a point to emphasize he has recovered from the condition.

Debate reaches final question

The debate has reached its final question, and it’s ... a pretty weird one, to be honest.

PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff asked the candidates if there was anything they would like to ask forgiveness for from one of their opponents or if they would like to offer them a gift.

The answers started with Andrew Yang, who was clearly baffled. He ended up joking that he was grateful Elizabeth Warren had started reading his book, and he offered to send it to the other candidates.

Amy Klobuchar said Bernie Sanders’ health care fight was actually with the many Americans who don’t support Medicare for All.

The moderators then tried to move on, but Sanders interjected to try to take back the floor with a joke: “She took my name in vain.”

The debate has turned to the issue of health care, much later than it has come up in previous debates.

Bernie Sanders refused to say whether he would pursue more modest proposals than Medicare for All if Congress could not approve a single-payer system.

Sanders and Joe Biden, who has proposed a public option rather than Medicare for All, then clashed over what was realistic to expect in terms of passing health care bills.

Biden says he disagreed with Afghanistan troop surge

PBS Newshour’s Amna Nawaz asked Joe Biden about what he knew of the US military’s difficulties in Afghanistan, referring to the recent revelation from the Washington Post that government officials were aware the troop surge there was not working.

Biden said he argued against the surge in Afghanistan, putting him at odds with Barack Obama and senior Pentagon officials.

The comment surprised some debate viewers, but a former senior adviser to Obama confirmed Biden’s stance.

PBS NewsHour’s Yamiche Alcindor asked the candidates how they would address violence against transgender women of color.

Bernie Sanders said the country needed “moral leadership in the White House to protect the transgender community,” specifically touching on the need to guarantee access to health care.

“The transgender community has been marginalized in every way possible,” said Elizabeth Warren. She pledged that, as president, she would go to the Rose Garden every year and read the names of transgender women and people of color who have been killed.

PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff just asked Amy Klobuchar a question that any eventual nominee will have to face: how will you enact your agenda with so many Trump-appointed judges on the bench?

Klobuchar pledged to appoint judges in the vein of liberal Supreme Court justices, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Amy Klobuchar has repeatedly criticized Pete Buttigieg tonight, a fight that seems to have been inevitable to many.

In response to criticism from Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg defended his electability by pointing to his mayoral victories in South Bend, Indiana.

“Try building a coalition to win re-election with 80% of the vote as a gay dude in Mike Pence’s Indiana,” Buttigieg said, referring to the vice president’s previous role as the governor of Indiana.

Klobuchar criticizes Buttigieg for his experience level

Senator Amy Klobuchar got in a dig at Pete Buttigieg, touting her accomplishments in the Senate to highlight his relative lack of experience.

Buttigieg responded by highlighting his experience as a veteran of the war in Afghanistan.

“I certainly respect your military experience,” Klobuchar said. But she added, “That’s not what this is about.”

The Minnesota senator went on to say she had a proven track record of winning over Midwestern voters, which would help Democrats win back the White House.

Debate livestream cut in Beijing during discussion on China

While the debate turned to discussions of human rights violations in China the detention of Uigher people in Xinjiang, CNN international correspondent Will Ripley reported that the CNN live feed of the debate went dark in Beijing.

Chinese officials have previously said that reports that the country is holding more than a million people from the country’s Muslim minority population in detention camps are “fake news”, insisting that the camps are “education and training centres”.

Amy Klobuchar’s dig at Pete Buttigieg, who recently hosted a luxurious fundraiser at a Napa winery, had to be the best mom joke of the night.

“I’ve never even been to a wine cave,” she said. “But I have been to a wind cave,” an apparent reference the South Dakota national park.

Twitter was swift to react.

Updated

By the way, here is a picture of that Napa wine cave where Pete Buttigieg recently held a campaign fundraiser, for which he was just criticized by Elizabeth Warren.

Democratic debate turns contentious

There’s still plenty of time left in the Democratic debate, but it’s already clear the night has become more contentious than any of the other recent debates.

Bernie Sanders was not willing to let a fundraising argument go by without getting in a dig at Joe Biden, darkly joking the former vice president and Pete Buttigieg are in a contest to be funded by the most billionaires.

Warren and Buttigieg clash over fundraising

Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigeig engaged in a protracted back and forth about their fundraising tactics, which they have clashed over in recent weeks.

Warren criticized Buttigieg for his recent fundraiser at a private Napa winery. “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States,” Warren said.

Buttigieg replied by noting he was the least wealthy candidate on stage and was willing to receive contributions from anyone who wanted to defeat Trump.

The moderators then interjected to bring in additional candidates, turning to Amy Klobuchar, who said she wasn’t here to listen to Buttigieg and Warren argue. “I have never even been to a wine cave,” Klobuchar joked.

Warren on her age: 'I’d also be the youngest woman ever inaugurated'

Asked about the fact that she would be the oldest president ever inaugurated, Elizabeth Warren delivered one of the biggest lines of the night yet.

“I’d also be the youngest woman ever inaugurated,” the Massachusetts senator said to much applause.

Biden won't commit to only serving one term

Asked about Barack Obama’s comment on “old men” not “getting out of the way”, Joe Biden joked that his former boss was not referring to him.

Biden was then asked whether he would only serve one term if elected, as some reports have indicated.

“No, I’m not willing to commit one way or another,” Biden said. “I’m running for one term, and let’s see where we are. Let’s see what happens.”

Updated

Candidates were asked about Barack Obama’s recent comment that many of the world’s problems stem from “old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way”.

Asked for a response, Bernie Sanders said, “The issue is where power resides in America.” The Vermont senator warned the United States was turning into an “oligarchy” with only billionaires benefiting.

But on the issue of “old men ... getting out of the way”, Sanders didn’t seem to directly answer the question.

Updated

Democratic debate so far

The sixth Democratic debate just wrapped up its first hour, and here’s where things stand so far:

  • The candidates defended the House’s decision to impeach Trump, arguing the president’s “corrupt” actions necessitated the historic vote.
  • Meanwhile, the president continues to tweet attacks at House Democratic leadership, complaining about their threat to withhold the articles of impeachment from the Senate in order to gain influence over the trial procedures.
  • Asked about being the only candidate of color on stage, Andrew Yang offered a detailed answer about the structural challenges that Latinos and African Americans face in America, arguing his proposed universal basic income would help to address those issues.

The blog will have plenty more coming up, so stay tuned.

A number of debate viewers noted Tom Steyer’s odd use of the word “frenemy” to desribe America’s relationship with China.

But it actually wasn’t the first time that the billionaire activist has used the term in a debate.

During the October debate, Steyer said of climate change, “I’ve been working on it for 10 years, taking on the corporations. But we have to work with our allies and our frenemies around the world.”

Moments ago, PBS Newshour’s Yamiche Alcindor asked Amy Klobuchar about what she would say to the white Americans who are nervous about becoming a racial minority.

But the Minnesota senator offered a muddled reponse to Alcindor’s question.

As the Democratic presidential debate continues, Trump is keeping up his attacks on the House Democrats who just impeached him.

The president claimed House Democratic leadership does not want to advance the articles of impeachment to a Senate trial because they’re afraid to have Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee chairman, or the whistleblower testify.

However, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell would be in charge of deciding which witnesses were called to testify, and it’s unclear whether he would comply with Trump’s requests.

Joe Biden was asked why the Obama administration was unable to close Guantanamo Bay, which was a campaign promise of Barack Obama’s.

The former vice president blamed Congress for being unable to close the military prison, which he called “an advertisement for creating terror.”

Andrew Yang, who is putting on a strong show tonight, is also enjoying a flourishing bromance with Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino), after the Democrat scored Glover’s endorsement earlier this week.

Ahead of the debate, the Yang campaign announced the multi-talented Glover would be joining in a creative consultancy role.

Glover has immense sway with young voters – and the pair are certainly employing a millennial-friendly approach to the endorsement.

The two hosted a pop-up event in LA on Thursday afternoon, where Glover-designed merchandise was sold (which featured an ornate “46” design, a reference to the 2020 election being for the 46th presidency). Videos showcasing the long line of fans and supporters were posted on social media. Yang and Glover were spotted hanging out at the highly attended event.

We’re preemptively coining this new relationship “Dondrew”.

Updated

When Bernie Sanders was asked about the whiteness of tonight’s debate stage, he tried to pivot to an earlier question about climate change.

Moderator Amna Nawaz then interjected, “Senator, with all due respect, this question is about race. Can you get back to the question at hand?”

This prompted some applause from the audience.

Yang asked about being the only candidate of color on stage

Andrew Yang was asked about being the only candidate of color on stage tonight, following the withdrawal of Kamala Harris and other candidates’ failure to qualify.

“It’s both an honor and disappointment to be the lone candidate of color on the stage tonight,” Yang said. “I miss Kamala, I miss Cory,” he said, referring to Senator Cory Booker. Yang added, “Although I think Cory will be back.”

Yang went on to cite some of the statistics reflecting the structural challenges that Latinos and African Americans face in the United States, arguing his proposed universal basic income would help address those issues.

After Elizabeth Warren spoke about the need to build an economy that works for everyone, Amy Klobuchar responded by emphasizing the need to beat Trump next year.

“The way we tackle corruption is by winning big in this election,” said Klobuchar, who has pitched herself as the candidate best suited to winning over voters in states that backed Trump in 2016.

On the subject of climate change, Klobuchar emphasized that it wasn’t only coastal regions seeing its effects. She said her home state of Minnesota has also suffered flooding because of climate change.

“It’s not flyover country to me,” Klobuchar said. “I live there.”

Which candidate spoke the least before the first commercial break? That would be the leader in national polls, Joe Biden.

Steyer criticizes Buttigieg on climate change

The conversation has turned to climate change, and the candidates have criticized Trump for not addressing the crisis and for pulling the United States out of the Paris agreement.

But Tom Steyer interestingly used his answer to criticize Pete Buttigieg, calling on the Indiana mayor to prioritize climate change in his campaign platform.

“This is not theoretical to me,” Buttigieg responded, going on to say his South Bend neighborhood had recently flooded. “I insist that we act.”

Updated

Just before the commercial break, Pete Buttigieg used an answer on the economy to draw a contrast between himself and more progressive candidates like Elizabeth Warren, with whom he has clashed in recent weeks.

The debate is taking a two-minute commercial break. So far, the discussion has focused on impeachment and the economy.

But it’s already notable how the smaller stage has allowed each candidate to talk more.

Tom Steyer has already spoken at least twice, compared to zero times in the first half-hour of the November debate.

Updated

Asked by PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff about critics who say her tax increases would stifle the economy, Elizabeth Warren said, “Oh, they’re just wrong,” prompting applause from the audience.

Warren went on to make an argument for her wealth tax, saying it would result in a fairer economy.

Elizabeth Warren argued the success of the US economy was not being shared with everyday Americans.

The Massachusetts senator said the economy was working for the “wealthy and well connected but no one else”.

Bernie Sanders echoed that message, pledging to create an economy that “works for working families, not just the 1%”.

Updated

Sanders says he will vote 'no' on USMCA

Judy Woodruff posed a question to Bernie Sanders about the United States-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, which the House passed earlier today.

Sanders, who has been generally skeptical of trade agreements in the past, ackowledged that the deal was a “modest improvement over what we have right now”, referring to NAFTA.

But the Vermont senator said the agreement did not address key issues such as outsourcing and so he would not be voting in favor of it.

Senator Amy Klobuchar agreed that there were some issues with the deal, but she said it would improve the lives of America’s farmers, so she will be voting in favor of the deal.

Updated

Pete Buttigieg used a question about impeachment to offer a broader justification for his candidacy, pledging to “change the course of this nation for the better”.

There was then an odd moment where Judy Woodruff turned to “Mr Yang” but actually directed a question to Tom Steyer.

Andrew Yang responded by clapping his hands to indicate he was on the other end of the debate stage, but Woodruff quickly corrected herself and directed the impeachment question to Steyer, who noted he started the “Need to Impeach” group shortly after Trump’s inauguration.

Updated

Answering a question about Trump’s impeachment, Elizabeth Warren called him “the most corrupt president in living history.”

The Massachusetts senator noted Trump’s campaign promise to “drain the swamp” of Washington and said the president “broke that promise” by overseeing a corrupt administration.

Amy Klobuchar, who like Warren would be a juror in an eventual Senate impeachment trial, said Trump had initiated “a global Watergate” in his actions toward Ukraine and argued he was afraid to let his advisers testify, indicating his guilt.

First question is on impeachment

The first debate question is (unsurprisingly) about yesterday’s impeachment of Donald Trump and is being broadly posed to all seven candidates.

PBS Newshour’s Judy Woodruff asked the candidates how they would move the country forward considering the impeachment vote fell almost exactly along party lines.

Joe Biden called the impeachment vote a “constitutional necessity” and promised to “restore the integrity of the presidency.”

Bernie Sanders then called Trump a “pathological liar,” repeating a line he has used before at past debates. The Vermont senator, who would be a juror in the president’s impeachment trial, pledged to “make the case” against giving Trump a second term.

The Guardian’s Lois Beckett is in Los Angeles and has been speaking with voters ahead of tonight’s debate. Here’s what they had to say about the respective candidates ...

Updated

Sixth Democratic debate starts

The sixth Democratic debate is officially underway, and seven candidates will now face off the day after the impeachment of Donald Trump.

Here's the format of tonight's debate

The moderators of tonight’s debate are Judy Woodruff, Amna Nawaz and Yamiche Alcindor of PBS NewsHour and Politico’s Tim Alberta.

Candidates will have 1 minute and 15 seconds to respond to questions from moderators and 45 seconds for rebuttals and follow-ups.

The candidates will be allowed one minute to deliver closing statements, but there will be no opening statements, so it’s likely the candidates will use the first question (no matter what it is) to make their broad arguments for why they should be president.

Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren have been clashing for weeks over the appropriateness of big campaign donors and transparency.

Pete Buttigieg speaks as Elizabeth Warren listens during the fifthdebate.
Pete Buttigieg speaks as Elizabeth Warren listens during the fifthdebate. Photograph: Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Warren has honed in on Buttigieg’s work at the consulting group McKinsey, asking him to release his client list (he eventually did).

Buttigieg hit back by asking her to release her tax returns from the years she worked as a legal consultant for corporate clients (she disclosed how much those clients paid her).

He also called “evasive” on her plans to pay for “Medicare for all”, while Warren pushed back on settling for small shifts over systematic change, asserting she was fighting for Medicare for all because Warren it’s “the gold standard” of health care.

It will be interesting to see how the Harvard grad and the former Harvard professor will interact with each other on stage.

Here's how to watch tonight's debate

The sixth Democratic presidential debate is less than ten minutes away, so here is how you can watch tonight’s event.

The debate is hosted by PBS Newshour and Politico and will be broadcast live on PBS stations, as well as CNN. It can also be streamed on all three of the outlets’ websites.

And (of course) keep an eye on the Guardian live blog to get updates and analysis from our team.

Among those missing from today’s date stage is Kamala Harris, who dropped out of the presidential race earlier this month. It will be interesting to see how debate dynamics shift in her absence. Harris was, after all, an outsize presence on stage. She was known for her prosecutorial debate style and even fashioned herself as the best candidate to “prosecute the case” against Donald Trump.

Though Harris’ campaign faced many setbacks, including lagging support among progressives, many regretted losing her perspective in the presidential race, which has gotten markedly whiter in her absence.

Critics have said that primarily candidates of color have been overlooked.

This dynamic played out at the last Democratic debate, when Joe Biden said he had the support of the only black woman elected to the senate, referring to Carol Moseley Braun. “The other one is here,” Harris shot back.

Former US representative Joe Sestak and former Montana governor Steve Bullock also suspended their campaigns since the last debate.

Mulvaney reportedly expected to step down

Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff.
Mick Mulvaney, acting White House chief of staff. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

There’s a lot of news coming out of Washington as the Democratic presidential candidates prepare to debate in Los Angeles.

Politico is reporting that Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s acting chief of staff who infamously admitted to a quid pro quo in the Ukraine controversy before subsequently denying it, intends to step down after the Senate impeachment trial.

Politico reports:

Trump allies and White House aides, who have been nudging the president in recent weeks to find a new leader for the team as it delves into a crucial reelection campaign, have been circulating lists of potential replacements for weeks.

Mulvaney no longer wields much control over White House staff. Lately, he has been left out of major personnel and policy decisions, and he is not driving the strategy on impeachment even though he occupies what is historically the most powerful job in the West Wing.

‘He is there. I’ll leave it at that,’ said a Republican close to the White House when asked about Mulvaney’s status. ‘He’s like a kid. His role at the dinner table is to be seen and not heard.’

Updated

In the lead up to today’s debate, the billionaire candidates spent significant money on TV ads in California. Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor who made a late entrance into the race last month, spent roughly $13.5m on ads airing in the state in recent weeks, according to Advertising Analytics, a company that monitors political ads.

Bloomberg has flooded the LA area with his ads in particular, though he did not qualify for tonight’s debate.

Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist who also remained low in the polls, spent roughly $1.6m on California TV ads, starting earlier this month. Advertising Analytics said no other Democratic candidate has bought TV ads in the state so far.

Other candidates have, however, spent money on digital ads in California, according to Anna Massoglia, a researcher with the Center for Responsive Politics. In the past 90 days, Steyer’s campaign spent the most on Facebook ads targeted in California at $1.2m, she said.

During that period, Bloomberg spent more than $650,000 on Facebook in California, and the campaign of Pete Buttigieg spent $250,000 on the social media site in the state. Bernie Sanders’ campaign spent roughly $210,000 on Facebook ads in California.

Julián Castro, the former housing secretary and a 2020 candidate who did not qualify for the debate, was in LA yesterday to talk with homeless advocates. When the Guardian asked him about his billionaire rivals spending millions on ads, he said: “What we’re seeing in this election cycle is that, too often times in politics, money still talks. People can basically buy their way onto the debate stage ... We need to get to a time in this country where money doesn’t talk the same way that it does today.”

Trump demands 'immediate' impeachment trial

Trump is proving what a hard time the Democratic presidential candidates will have tonight as they try to make their voices heard over the noise of the president’s impeachment.

Trump just tweeted his frustration that Nancy Pelosi has threatened to hold back the articles of impeachment from the Senate in the hope of gaining leverage over majority leader Mitch McConnell, who will be in charge of determining the procedures of the trial to decide whether to remove the president from office.

The Republican-controlled Senate is virtually guaranteed to acquit Trump, but a delay in the trial could complicate the president’s efforts to convey the House’s decision to impeach as a partisan “witch hunt.”

Although it’s not clear what timeline Pelosi will pursue to advance the articles of impeachment, it’s clear that the House speaker’s ruminations are getting under Trump’s skin.

Only seven candidates will participate in today’s debate – the smallest number so far. To qualify for a spot on the stage, candidates had to prove that they had received contributions from at least 200,000 unique donors and meet one of two polling requirements.

They either had to poll at higher than 6% in two polls in the four early nominating states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina) or they had to poll at 4% or higher in four polls of early nominating states or four national surveys. Neither Cory Booker nor Julián Castro qualified – leaving Andrew Yang as the only non-white candidate participating tonight.

The Democratic National Committee has intentionally made it progressively more difficult for candidates to participate in the debates. When Booker, Castro and all seven qualifying candidates sent the DNC a letter asking them to alter the requirements for upcoming debates in January in February, the committee pushed back.

“The DNC will not change the threshold for any one candidate and will not revert back to two consecutive nights with more than a dozen candidates,” the organization said in a statement to Politico.

Updated

Here are the candidates who will be on stage tonight

The sixth Democratic presidential debate is about a half an hour away, so it’s time to reintroduce the candidates who will be on stage tonight.

Here they are in in terms of their proximity to center stage, which was determined by recent polling:

  • Joe Biden, the former vice president who has maintained his lead in the race despite a number of gaffes and efforts by Trump’s allies to have Ukraine investigate baseless corruption claims against him.
  • Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator who has centered her campaign around “big, structural change” but has faced pushback over the specifics of her Medicare for All proposal.
  • Bernie Sanders, the self-declared democratic socialist who has maintained a strong position in polls despite competing with Warren, a fellow progressive senator from the Northeast.
  • Pete Buttigieg, the moderate and millennial mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who has won over voters in the mostly white states of Iowa and New Hampshire but has struggled to recreate the same level of success elsewhere.
  • Amy Klobuchar, the Minnesota senator who has pitched herself as the best candidate to win over Midwestern voters but has so far failed to break into the top-polling tier of contenders.
  • Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur who has attracted supporters with his campaign promise of universal basic income and will surprisingly be the only non-white candidate on stage tonight.
  • Tom Steyer, the billionaire activist whose campaign has been buoyed by the many ads he has bought in recent months, a strategy that has prompted criticism from some of his opponents.

Those seven candidates will take the stage in about 30 minutes, so stay tuned.

Celebrity endorsements can bring a big boost to a candidate’s campaign, especially when it comes to younger voters. Surprisingly, Joe Biden has failed to rack up hefty endorsements from the Hollywood elite, despite his popularity in the polls – although he’s scored the backing of Game of Thrones author George RR Martin.

FEC filings show Pete Buttigeg has received a surprisingly high number of celebrity donations. In November, reports revealed the actor Jennifer Aniston, the TV show creator Ryan Murphy, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, actor Mandy Moore, and luxury designer Tom Ford all donated money to the Indiana politician.

Senator Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, has struck a chord with younger entertainers. Rapper Cardi B has been an ardent campaigner for the Vermont senator, even sitting down for a one-on-one discussion about issues relevant to her and her fans – many of whom belong to marginalized, lower-income communities. Pop star Ariana Grande recently met Sanders backstage after one of her concerts, thanking him “for all that you stand for” in a tweet to her 68 million followers.

Corey Booker has a major endorsement from actor Rosario Dawson – who is also his girlfriend. Andrew Yang has received co-signs from Tesla founder Elon Musk, musician/actor Donald Glover (aka Childish Gambino), Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and teen heartthrob Noah Centino.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth Warren has received support from Queer Eye star Johnathan Van Ness, who shared how Warren’s “Medicare For All” plan won him over after he lost his HIV medication and had to pay $3,500 for a replacement. Bad Feminist writer Roxane Gay and actor Chloë Sevigny have also voiced their support for the senator.

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Joe Biden will be at center stage tonight, as the former vice president maintains his lead in the polls despite a number of gaffes and attacks from Trump and his allies.

A new CNN poll released today showed Biden leading the primary with the support of 26% of Democratic voters, while Bernie Sanders came in second at 20%.

Despite the many developments in the race in recent weeks, including candidates entering and exiting the field, it’s worth noting Biden and Sanders have remained in the top-polling tier of candidates since the beginning of this year.

One of the names missing from the list of debate participants: Tulsi Gabbard. The Hawaii congresswoman didn’t meet the qualifications for today’s debate, but she said she wouldn’t have participated even if she had qualified.

Gabbard and her campaign have repeatedly expressed the disdain for the debates, which she has referred to as “so-called debates” and nothing more than “commercialized reality television meant to entertain, rather than to inform or enlighten”.

If she were on stage today, she would surely face questions about her decision to vote “present” in yesterday’s impeachment hearing, and her desire to formally censure Donald Trump rather than remove him from office.

Gabbard is instead attending “An evening with Tulsi and Friends” at The Rex Theater in Manchester, New Hampshire tonight.

Today’s debate comes after a spate of mass shootings in California this fall. At the end of October two Hallween parties – one in Long Beach and the other in Orinda, a small town in the Bay Area – ended in tragedy within a day of each other. A total of eight people were killed, and 14 others were injured.

People gather for a gun control rally outside the supreme court.
People gather for a gun control rally outside the supreme court. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA

Almost two weeks later, the state was rocked by three more shootings within a space of four days, leaving 10 people dead at a Santa Clarita high school and at homes in Fresno and San Diego.

California is known for its strict gun laws including an assault weapons ban passed in 1989 and a Gun Violence Restraining order, also known as a ‘red flag’ law passed in 2014. This policy allows people to petition judges to get firearms temporarily taken from people who pose a threat to themselves or others. Still, some lawmakers are calling on other states and the federal government to follow California’s lead and pass laws that could reduce the number of guns and gun violence across the US.

This week, the US Congress allocated $25m to the Center for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health for gun violence research. This is the first allotment of this kind in more than 20 years.

Gun control has been a recurrent theme in the Democratic debates so far and could feature prominently on tonight’s stage. Each of the candidates in tonight’s debate support “common sense” gun laws including universal background checks and a stronger licensing system. Still there are some divergences within the Democratic field.

Bernie Sanders believes that individual states should determine their own gun control laws, with the exception of a federal background check and assault weapons ban. Elizabeth Warren wants to raise the minimum age for purchasing firearms and mandate reporting on multiple gun purchases.

Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang, the only candidates who’ve never held public office advocate for similar “common sense” laws and Steyer is also calling on the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to provide more violence intervention programs. Yang wants to increase funding for suicide prevention, particularly among veterans.

In addition to the aforementioned common sense laws, Pete Buttigieg wants to require people to report missing or stolen firearms. Finally, Joe Biden hopes to establish a task force that looks at and addresses combination of online harassment, extremism, and violence.

Tonight’s debate almost didn’t happen because of a labor dispute that prompted the presidential candidates to threaten a boycott of the event.

The debate was originally scheduled to take place at the Univesity of California, Los Angeles, but the candidates raised objections over going to the campus while the school is locked in conflict with a union representing more than 25,000 workers.

So the event was moved to the nearby Loyola Marymount University, but then contract negotiations between the school’s unionized food-service workers and the company Sodexo stalled last week.

Every Democratic candidate who had qualified for the debate said they would not cross the picket line while negotiations were stalled, but the dispute was settled earlier this week, clearing the way for tonight’s event.

Even though the unionized workers and Sodexo reached an agreement, it seems virtually certain that the issue of labor rights will be raised during tonight’s debate.

The debate is taking place in Los Angeles, a city where the escalating homeless crisis has become a public health emergency. LA experienced a 16% increase in homelessness this year, with a total of 36,000 people now homeless across the city, including 27,000 without shelter.

Julian Castro meets Chris Smith, who is homeless, as he tours the Skid Row area in downtown Los Angeles.
Julian Castro meets Chris Smith, who is homeless, as he tours the Skid Row area in downtown Los Angeles. Photograph: Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images

The homelessness crisis has also made the state a frequent target of Donald Trump. At one point earlier this year, the president openly complained about homeless people taking up space on the “best highways, our best streets, our best entrances to buildings … where people in those buildings pay tremendous taxes, where they went to those locations because of the prestige”.

In recent months, the Trump administration has repeatedly hinted he wants to pursue a police crackdown on homeless people living on the streets of LA and San Francisco, sparking fear and anger from advocates. Although Democrats in the state have positioned themselves as leaders of the resistance to Trump, on the subject of homelessness, California liberals have often pursued similar law enforcement solutions even if they avoid using the dehumanizing language of the president.

If Trump escalates his political attacks on California over homelessness next year, Democrats may be pressured to push back with policy solutions that don’t focus on criminalization and incarceration.

Roughly 25% of homeless people in the US live in California, where a severe affordable housing shortage has led to increased evictions and displacement throughout the state. Counts this year have found massive jumps in the number of homeless people in LA, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento and cities across the state.

Here’s our latest reporting on Trump’s threats to California and responses from advocacy groups:

Those tuning in to watch tonight’s Democratic debate might have a question when the participants take the stage: where did all the candidates of color go?

Since the last debate in Atlanta, Senator Kamala Harris has dropped out of the race, and three other candidates of color – Senator Cory Booker, congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and former housing secretary Julián Castro – failed to qualify for the LA debate.

The only non-white candidate on stage will be tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who qualified on the last possible day to do so with a fourth poll showing him hitting 4%.

The difficulties that candidates of color have faced in the race have sparked criticism, even from those candidates themselves. Booker has suggested polling is a poor metric to determine debate participants, and Castro has argued candidates of color are disadvantaged by the mostly white states of Iowa and New Hampshire voting first.

Although they won’t be on stage tonight, it seems almost certain that their opponents will be asked about their absence – and what it means for the Democratic party moving forward.

In a state increasingly plagued by rising sea levels, drought, flood, wildfires, the power shutoffs meant to prevent those wildfires, and recent efforts by the Trump administration to upend California’s environmental policies, the climate crisis is at the forefront of many voters minds.

Nearly half of Democratic voters ranked climate as their top priority in a poll by the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley – slightly more than voters nationwide.

Demonstrators from several environmental groups demand broad action at a youth-led climate strike in New York.
Demonstrators from several environmental groups demand broad action at a youth-led climate strike in New York. Photograph: Scott Heins/Getty Images

Every candidate on tonight’s stage has released a climate change action plan, though they vary widely in scale, scope and detail. But if past debates are any indication, they won’t be talking much about those plans.

Climate has thus far received little time or attention in the Democratic debates, comprising just one tenth of the question topics. In the most recent debate, Bernie Sanders called the climate crisis “the existential threat of our time” – but there was only one question devoted to it.

The apparent unwillingness to talk about the climate crisis has become a kind of existential threat to Democratic unity. At a party convention in San Francisco in August, officials resoundingly rejected multiple proposals to hold a climate-focused primary debate, above the passionate protest of party members and climate activists from the youth-led Sunrise Movement.

Democratic presidential candidates set to debate in Los Angeles

Hello, live blog readers!

The sixth Democratic presidential debate is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. E.T., and it will feature a record low number of candidates for this election cycle. Only seven candidates will take the stage: Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang.

The debate stage is prepared for the upcoming sixth Democratic primary debate in Los Angeles, California.
The debate stage is prepared for the upcoming sixth Democratic primary debate in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Those seven candidates will face off at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Although the Golden State is not one of the four early voting states, its high number of delegates will have a massive impact on the election when Californians head to the polls on March 3, or “Super Tuesday.”

Despite California’s importance in the primary fight, the candidates will be fighting for attention with the spectacle of Donald Trump’s impeachment. The House voted last night to impeach Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, making him only the third president in US history to be impeached.

Candidates will be looking to make an impression on Democratic primary voters, but will their message break through over the noise of impeachment? We’ll find out in about an hour and a half, so stay tuned.

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